Learn the individual stories of men and women who were involved in major events leading up to, during and after the The Civil War (1861-1865).
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The occupation of the coastal region of South Carolina by federal armies in 1862 led to troops taking over the homes of many citizens who had supported the Confederacy. This home in Beaufort became...
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The end of the war signaled the end of the blockade of southern ports. In November 1865, the ship "Glad Tidings" entered the port of Liverpool in England with a shipment of Carolina cotton. Cotton...
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Federal forces occupied Morris Island in 1863, then remained after the invasion was over, as an occupation force, as illustrated by this 1865 Matthew Brady photograph of their gun emplacement...
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At the end of the Civil War, both of South Carolina's major cities lay in ruins. Even as Sherman approached Columbia, another branch of his army occupied Charleston. The accidental explosion of a...
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Federal troops, waging the total war that Sherman believed was necessary, were instructed to destroy the South's ability to make war. Here, they destroy a section of railroad tracks at Pocataligo...
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Nearly 20,000 people were crowded into Columbia when Sherman's army approached, and its streets were crowded with cotton bales. Whether Sherman's advance forces, panicky Confederate deserters camped...
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A cotton press near Flat Rock is destroyed by Sherman's army in April, 1865. From "Leslie's Illustrated Weekly." Courtesy of the Pratt Memorial Library.
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Sherman's forces capture Confederate ordinance at Cheraw on the evening of the 3rd of March, 1865. From "Leslie's Illustrated Weekly." Courtesy of the Pratt Memorial Library.
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When General William Tecumseh Sherman invaded South Carolina, he surprised those who expected him to strike first at Charleston. Instead, he marched the main body of his army northward toward Columbia...
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South Carolinians met here at the First Baptist Church in Columbia on December 17, 1860, determined to end their membership in the United States in protest against the election of Abraham Lincoln, a...
